Genealogy Data Page 477 (Notes Pages)

Note: Williamus John Prater (Guilliumus Johonnie de Priers) was a Shire Reeve
under the Prince of Powys. The position of Reeve, in those days, was a
most important title. A Reeve was very much like the combination of what
we know today as Governor,Magistrate,Justice,Tax Collector/Assessor all
rolled into one position. He may have also been a "Baron" of Powis.
The position and word SHERIFF used today comes from the words Shire Reeve.
A shire is the English term for County. But the position of Shire Reeve in
those days was much more powerful than that of todays County Sheriff.

Williamus married a descendant of the Prince of Powys thus we can see how
important his social and political standing must have been. Only nobles of
the highest stature could marry into a royal house.

Brockwell Yscitheor,the "Prince of Powys" had another descendant who married
Hugh Delamere (also spelled Delamare / DeMara) who was a descendant of Norman
Delamere of Normandy, whose Castle was -- De la Mere (Castle of the lake)
built in the early 900's on the edge of a lake in Normandy. These Delamares
were the anscesters of our maternial Grandfather Sir Johonnie Delamare, who
built Nunney Castle at Nunney,Somersetshire,England in 1373. This Castle went
to his heirs and later went to the Paulet family by marriage. Our Grandfather
George Prater purchased it from his cousins the Paulets in a tax transaction
and exchange from his father, John Praters estate. George conducted business
there but his son and heir Richard Prater was the first Prater to live in the
castle. Richards tomb and statue effigy is in the church at Nunney. Richard
was our Grandfathers older brother. Our Grandfather,Anthony,was Trustee of the
castle and estates when his brother,Richard, died in 1580.
The family connection with the De la Mere family and Brockwell Yscitheor is
proven by our family coat-of-Arms.
Eample: In the lower section of our family coat-of-Arms is 3 wolf heads
erased, Silver in color with the background of the shield in sable (black).
This was the Coat-of-Arms of Brockwell Yscitheor, the Prince of Powys.
Because of the "exacting" rules governing heraldry we know that the lower
portion of a shield "in Chief" as it is called is an indication that the
wifes family coat-of-arms is ALWAYS in the lower 2/3's of the shield.
Thus Guilliumus Prater married a female descendant, of direct susession, of
Brockwell Yscitheor! A daughter or granddaughter, ect.

MORE ABOUT THE NAME ...de PRIERS...PRATER....PRATHER....PRATOR....PRAYTOR :

Other spellings variations of our families name that have been
found in the early English (Norman) records are:
Pretor, Preytelius, Presterus, Praepositus, Presbyter, Prayther, Preter,
Prayter, Praytor, Prathir, Prather, Praetor, de Priers and others may exist.
One must remember; the early Norman records are mostly in a French Norman
variation of Latin, but other variations of Latin also exist.
The spellings also vary depending on the period in history in question.

Guilliumus Johonnie de Presbyster (Williamus John Prater or de Priers)

Inquisitions Post Mortem and Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, bearing in mind the
possible spellings of the name Prater and its variants in Latin & English.
In the Inquistions for 30 Edward I is noted Johannes de Pratellis pro abbissa
et monialibus de Godestowe, holding 2 acres of land with the advowson in Great
Tew (Tew Maga). This is presumably the unspecified land in Great Tew held by
Raduulfus de Pratellis according to the Inquisitions of 34 Henry III (1249-50)
and by another Radulfus de Pratellis of 7 Edward I (1333-1334).
This is supplemented my the Hundred Roll of Edward I, in which Druet' de
Pratellis holds 6 acres called Revelon in Great Tew @ 2 shillings per annum
for the lives of himself, his wife and his son.

From: English Ancestral Names:
The Evolution of the Surname from Medieval Occupation, by J.R. Dolan,
Crown Publishers.

"Both the PRATER and the Reaves names mean essentially the same thing in that
they belong to men of authority. They may not always have been the top man in
a manor, but they were certainly close to it. The Laton word Praetor meant
'an assistant', while reeve meant ' a trusted servant'.
This refers to the higher "Gentry" class. (this is not to be confused with
the Roman Praetorian name).

Lawmen and Officials:

PRATER, PRAETER, and PRETOR have a Latin root praetor. In 1150, there was a
Willelmus Pretor. He was known as either a reeve or a sheriff, because that
is the job he held, but PRETER, or one of its variations was the name given to
him and his family. This man is believed to have descended from the family
of "de Priers" who held great riches and extensive properties along the Welch
borders.

The Prater coat-of-arms also suggest that the Prater family may have
descended from the "House of Carew".
Gerald de Windsor (Gerald of Windsor built Carew Castle in 1109) and
one of his sons inheited Carew Castle for which his name was abopted.
Maurice de Carew.
The Coat-of-arms of Prater uses the same colors and symbols as the
Carew coat-of-arms (the top 1/3 of the sheild of Prater) Thus the
Prater name may have "evolved" due to the position he held in
early England. "de Priers" and "Prater" may have both been families
that "evolved" from Gerald de Windsor.
Gerald of Windsor was King Williams "Lord" over Wales.
Gerald himself was born of high rank, his mother, Grace, the daughter of
the King of North Wales and his wife, Nesta being the daughter of the King
of South Wales.

Guilliumus Prater "held" under Wlliam the conquerer, Duke of Normandy.
He had connections with Gerald of Windsor(Pembroke Castle)&(Carew Castle).
I believe he was a noble that served under William the Conqueror in the Welch
Kingdom of Powis. It is certain that he married the descndant of the Prince of
Powis. His desendants married a Carew (Carew Castle),and a De La Mare,
and other families of noblity.

Occupation: Noble/ Official

Change: Date: 12 APR 2009

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Powys), _____ Yscitheor (Princes of {I9601} (b. CA. 1066 ? ? ?, d. CA. ? ? ? ? ?)

Note: Yscitheor, an old Welch/Gaylic name from which the Lords of Powys used in
early history 800/1100's ,later became De La Pole ("of the Poole").
They lived at a Castle in the Kingdom of Powys. Powys was located in central
Wales and extended into severial counties in Southwestern England.
Today the Castle in Montgomersyshire, Wales is called Powis. When it was
first built in the 800's it was called Welchpoole because it was located at
the edge of a lake, thus the name "poole" (the Welch Castle by the poole).
The Yscitheor family that lived there later became known as de la Poole
(of the Poole) and still later this name was shortened to De La Pole.
This was a very powerful family that held many titles in the English Kingdom.
The King of Powys surrendered his kingdom to the Normans and the Norman
King gave him the Lordship of there former kingdom to rule as a Princeapality,
thus the Kings of Powys became the Princes of Powys and "held" it in Lordship
for the King of England. Brockwell Yscitheor was one such "Prince of Powys".
His Coat-of-Arms is 3 Silver Wolf Heads on a Black Shield. This Coat-of-Arms
was made part of the Prater Coat-of-Arms which indicates that Brockwell's
descendant was married to our grandfather. We do not know the name of his
descendant, but we know that by the laws of Heraldry in England that there is
No doubt that she was our grandmother and lived in the early 10 or 1100's.
Her sister was married to a De La mere , who was a baron and powerful Lord,
from which Sir John De La Mere descended. Sir John De La Mere built Nunney
Castle in 1373. Our Grandfather, George Prater of Latton Manor died there in
1564. His son Richard Prater owned and lived in Nunney Castle,Nunney,Somerset.
Richard Prater's tomb and statue effegy is in the church there.

Brockwell Yscitheor was named after one of his anscestors who was also
a Prince of Powys. He was called Brockfiel (Brockwell) Yscythrog and he
died in 662 A.D. His name Yscythrog is old welch galic, and means "Of The
Tusk" because he wore a helmet with Horns. Horns were called tusk in those
days. He is best recorded in history for his acts against the church in
Rome and in favor of the Christian Church of Wales and his attemps to
save St.Davids Cathedral which is located on the tip of South West Wales.
The Old Monastery stands today, with tombs that date back to the 10 Century.
The Catholic Church of Rome sent a Cadinal with his large number of attendants
monks, soldiers of the Pope to England to investagate the rumer of a great
Christian church of Wales and to bring it under the control of the Roman
Chatholic Church of Rome. The Church in Wales was also a variation of the
Catholic Church but refused to subjugate themselves to the laws and practices
of Roman Church.
The Roman Cardinal, angry, left and traveled with his group to North Wales
where he asked for support from the King of North Wales.
The King was more than willing to help him, because he had been feuding
with the Kings of the Southern Welch territories and Brockfeil in particular.
This King took his army to South Wales to subjugate the church of St.David.
Brockfeil herd of their coming and met them with his army. Also joining him
were 100 monks from St.Davids, who stayed in the rear to pray for his success.
Brockfeil was out numbers 10 to one.
The King of North Wales attacked Brockfeil and killed all except Brockfeil and
about 100 of his men. The Kings army even killed the 100 monks as they nelt
in prayer. The King then went to St. Davids and burned the Monastery.
What is so tragic about this is the fact that hundreds of years of records
about the noblity and history of Wales were in its library.
Upon hereing what had happened, the other Kings of South Wales came to the aid
of Brockfeil and defeated the King of North Wales, but it was to late to save
the Old Monastery of St.Davids.
As a result of Brockfeils efforts he became known as the "Savior of Wales
and Chosen of God". These events happen in 583 A.D., Brockfeil was a very
young man when these events took place, he died in 662 A.D.
Brockwell Yscitheor, Prince of Powys living in 1085 was descended from the
brother of Brockfeil Yscythrog.
The spelling of Yscitheor was a more modern Welch galic variation of the
spelling Yscythrog. (Ho is ther rog)
St.Davids was rebuilt and stands today, it is a beautiful old monastery,
with many old tombs. Some of it is in ruins but the main church is still
in use. It sets on the southern coastal tip of South Wales in the villiage
of St. Davids.
The daughters of Brockwell were our grandmothers.
One daughter married a Guilliumus Prater and the other married Hugh Delamare.
A descendant of Hugh Delamere (Delamare) was Sir John Delamare of Nunney
Castle, his daughter married William Prater, thus both Yscitheor daughters
are in the Prater line.

Richard Prater was an older brother to our Grandfather Anthony Prater.
Anthony was made a trustee of the estates and Castle at Nunney until Richards
son was old enough to claim his right to inherit the estates. (6 years later)
This son was George Prater, whose tomb is also located in the church at Nunney
Somerset. It was this Georges son, that lost the Castle to Cromwells forces
during the Civil War of 1645 in England. (research by Gary Benton Prather)

Occupation: Princes of Powys (Powis)

Change: Date: 12 APR 2009

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